Indie-pop veterans The Mommyheads play Santa Rosa for first time in 28 years

Throughout the 1990s, San Francisco’s alternative music scene boasted a cavalcade of bands that defied genre and categorization. At the forefront was baroque-pop prog-rock outfit The Mommyheads, who called the Bay Area home from 1990 until disbanding in 1998.

Though the band reunited in 2008 and has been making music for the last 14 years, it’s been almost three decades since they played in Santa Rosa, according to bandleader and songwriter Adam Elk.

That hiatus comes to an end this month when The Mommyheads perform Wednesday, Oct. 26, at The Lost Church.

‘The other names were worse’

Elk and his musical cohorts were high school kids in New York City in 1987 when they formed The Mommyheads. According to Elk, the band’s name was approved by Hilly Kristal, band manager and owner of the famous CBGB club.

“We had a gig at CB’s, and I told Hilly Krystal the name,“ Elk said. ”And the other names were worse, so he said, ‘I like Mommyheads. It’s got a nice ring.’ Little did I know it was the worst name ever.”

While the name raises eyebrows wherever the band goes, Elk said it’s become a blessing in the age of Google searches.

“The positive is that no one wants it. We lose our domain name sometimes and nobody tries to charge us for it. It’s so bad, it’s an untouchable name.”

Coming to San Francisco

Shortly after forming, The Mommyheads moved to San Francisco in 1990, where they flourished creatively.

“We wanted to jam and talk to the audience. It wasn’t this ‘get signed and have a hit’ vibe for us,” Elk said. “In San Francisco you could be an original, and you didn’t feel like you had to have a ‘career’ like in New York or Los Angeles.”

Throughout the decade, The Mommyheads played with experimental rock bands like Mr. Bungle and Cake and regularly sold out venues like the Great American Music Hall.

“We felt very much at home,” Elk said. “Those were great years.”

After five records, The Mommyheads signed to Geffen Records in 1997 and made one self-titled album right as the bottom dropped out of the record industry due to Napster and music downloading. The label dropped them, the band broke up and Elk moved back to New York City.

Big in Sweden

In December of 2007, original Mommyheads drummer Jan Kotik died after a battle with cancer, and the remaining members reunited for a show in 2008 in his honor.

“We hit the stage and everything just jelled,” Elk said.

Then the band got word that their one Geffen record was being played on Sweden’s biggest alternative radio station.

“We’re getting these calls like, ‘You need to come out (to Sweden).’ And I said, ‘We’re broken up,’ and they said, ‘Well, get back together,’” Elk said. “We almost didn’t trust it until we got to Stockholm and hundreds of people knew the songs.”

Since 2008, the band has gone to Sweden eight times to perform.

“We’ve come to terms with our lack of success (in America) through the Swedes,” Elk said.

‘Genius Killer’

According to Elk, the last time The Mommyheads played the Bay Area was in 2008 at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco, and the last time the band played in Santa Rosa was 1994.

While they haven’t been seen live on stage locally, the group has been increasingly prolific, releasing one new record every year for the last five years as well as one re-issue record culled from old demos and cassettes recorded in the 1990s.

The Santa Rosa stop is part of their West Coast tour promoting their recently released 14th album, “Genius Killer,” which is charting in the Top 100 on College and Community radio and receiving rave reviews for its mix of audacity and accessibility.

“You can’t make a record unless you think it’s the best thing you’ve ever done,” Elk said. “We’re under the imaginary path that we’re getting better, but I kind of do feel better. There’s more economy in our playing. You get more tone when you strike things softer. I think we’re saying more with less, and you don’t need reference notes to listen to our music.”